Documents of American Constitutional and Legal History: From the founding to 1896

Book excerpt: Documents of American Constitutional and Legal History, Third Edition, is a two-volume companion to Urofsky and Finkelman's successful text, A March of Liberty, Second Edition. Organized chronologically, this documents reader skillfully weaves together constitutional and legal history, offering students a mix of both frequently cited and lesser-known--but equally important--historical documents and court decisions that have been instrumental in shaping the nation's constitutional development. The editors provide an introduction to each document, which summarizes its significance and places it within its historical context. Each introduction is followed by a brief list of suggestions for further reading. Both volumes contain the complete text of the U.S. Constitution for ease of reference. The third edition has been updated to include both newly significant documents from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries and many recent legal documents of significance, from the latest Supreme Court decisions up through the recent Guantanamo Bay controversy. In addition, the introductions have been revised and the suggested reading sections have been updated to reflect recent scholarship. For the first time, this edition will also include the voting records for each case and an appendix of U.S. Supreme court judges and their tenures. This reader is an essential resource for anyone studying U.S. Constitutional History and/or Law.